Glamorgan maintain unbeaten run at Swansea

Glamorgan notched up their fifth successive win in the National League with a spirited 31 run victory over Worcestershire at Swansea to maintained their unbeaten run in this year`s competition.

After lunchtime rain had caused the game to be reduced to a 39 overs contest, Robert Croft won yet another important toss and elected to bat first. His team however, had soon slumped to 34-3 as Kabir Ali ripped through the Glamorgan top order. David Hemp and Michael Powell steadied the ship with a 46 run stand, before Powell holed out on the cover boundary off the Australian left-armer Mark Harrity.

Adrian Dale then came in to play a delightful cameo, and the experienced all-rounder shared what proved to be match-winning partnership with Hemp, adding 112 for the 5th wicket in 18 overs - a record for Glamorgan in games against Worcestershire, and the second best ever for the fifth wicket in the competition in the Welsh county`s history.

There was a flurry of wickets late on in the Glamorgan innings, after Dale had departed for a fine 60, whilst David Hemp was bowled by Gareth Batty for 59. However, Worcestershire`s slow over rate resulted in the umpires awarding six penalty runs to Glamorgan, and the upshot was that the visitors were left chasing a target of 216 runs in their 39 overs.

The Worcestershire run chase never gained momentum after the early loss of Vikram Solanki who was caught behind by Mark Wallace as he attempted to leg-glance Andrew Davies. Michael Kasprowicz also dealt a vital blow - literally, as he struck Graeme Hick a painful blow on the hand and forced the former Worcestershire captain to receive treatment before he could continue batting.

But Hick never really recovered, and the ex-England batsman became one of three early wickets for Alex Wharf who bowled a fine spell coming on as first change. The Yorkshireman followed up his outstanding spell in the Championship match with a burst of 3/20 from 6 overs as Worcestershire slipped to 78/4.

Andrew Hall and David Leatherdale attempted a rally, sharing a stand of 56 in even time, before Hall went down the wicket once too often against Croft and was bowled. Wharf returned to add Leatherdale to his tally for the afternoon, as the experienced Worcestershire batsman was caught behind by Wallace.

Despite a few hearty blows by Matt Mason, Worcestershire kept losing wickets at regular intervals, and Andrew Davies finished things off as Mason holed out to cover to give Glamorgan their fifth win of the summer.